'You don't know it's not normal': Less than half of us recognise anxiety symptoms

I'm just a bit messed up and highly strung. This was the view I took of myself before I knew that anxiety was not just a normal part of who I am.

It turns out that I'm not alone in this confusion.

Anxiety affects one in four Australian adults – it is the most common mental health issue in the country – yet less than half of us recognise the symptoms when they occur. Like me, many people confuse their symptoms with something else, like a lack of sleep, or simply think that the unsettling feeling of chronic stress is their "normal".

"I had a pretty anxious childhood – my household was pretty frenetic and you don't know it's not normal because that's all you know as a child," says Sydneysider Camilla Martin.